A candlelight vigil was held in Batticaloa yesterday to mark ‘Black January’, a day to commemorate the intimidation, murder and enforced disappearance of journalists in Sri Lanka.

Demonstrators lit candles in remembrance of the journalists who had lost their lives in pursuit of democratic accountability and reiterated their demands for an independent international investigation into these murders.

TNPF campaign in Kokkuvil

Across the North-East the Tamil National People’s Front are continuing their campaign against the controversial 13^th amendment and maintaining their stance for Tamil nationhood and self-determination.

Puttalam High Court has refused to grant bail to Muslim human rights lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah despite earlier claims from the Sri Lankan Attorney General that the Court of Appeal would consent to the granting of bail.

The announcement comes as a disappointment to human rights activists who have tirelessly campaigned for his release. Hizbullah was initially detained by the Criminal Investigation Department on 14 April 2020 under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act under dubious allegations that he aided the Easter Sunday attack.

In their annual report, British ministers and MPs renewed their commitment to “fighting for truth, justice and accountability for Tamils” whilst highlighting the ongoing abuses suffered by those in Sri Lanka.

UNHRC

In an open letter, several global Tamil diaspora organisations have called on their respective governments to impose targeted travel bans and asset freezes on high-ranking Sri Lankan war criminals and their family members.

The letter calls on these countries to follow the lead of the United States which has already imposed a travel ban on the head of Sri Lanka’s army Shavendra Silva due to grave concerns of human rights abuses.

Despite Sri Lankan police officers attempting to halt commemorations in Batticaloa earlier today, the 35^th anniversary of the Kokkadichcholai massacre was marked in the district, paying tribute to the 87 people killed by Sri Lankan security forces.

Batticaloa MP Govindan Karunakaram attempted to pay tribute at the recently rebuilt memorial earlier today, when he was stopped by Sri Lankan police officers.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister Basil Rajapaksa said Colombo was “trying all our options” to avoid defaulting on looming payments, as an economic crisis worsens on the island.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Rajapaksa said the government was “negotiating with everybody”.

“We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them,” he said. “Then we have creditors and we have to service their debt, so whether we can have an adjustment or some type of thing.”

Responding to a question posed by MP for Mitcham and Morden, Siobhain McDonagh, on the need for sanctions on Shavendra Silva, Amanda Milling, Minister of State for Asia, remained tight-lipped insisting that the government does "not normally speculate about future sanctions targets, as to do so could reduce their impact”.

Milling's further added that the UK government "regularly engages with the US and other partners on issues relating to Sri Lanka".

South Korea’s Speaker of the National Assembly, Park Byeong-Seug, visited Sri Lanka amidst a flurry of diplomatic visits and a worsening economic crisis to explore employment, investment and training opportunities.

Brampton’s integrity commissioner has cleared Mayor Patrick Brown’s behaviour, noting that he did not break any codes, following a dispute over Tamil Genocide Day.

Responding to a resident who criticised the memorial day as recognising only “one ethnic group”, Brown questioned if he had worked with or spoken with the Sri Lankan government “due to a perceived similarity in the language used”.